15 Alaves Players And Staff Test Positive For COVID-19

Alaves team training session before La Liga suspended (Twitter @alaves)

JAKARTA - Spanish club Deportivo Alaves has confirmed 15 players and their staff have tested positive for COVID-19 or the corona virus.

Like much of European football, La Liga is out of action until at least April due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected several teams.

Real Madrid was put into quarantine after a basketball player was found to have the virus. It is known that the main basketball and football teams use the same training facilities.

Valencia meanwhile confirmed 35 percent of the tests on those linked to Los Che have come back positive. The Mestalla-based club reported five cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, with Argentine players Ezequiel Garay and France's Eliaquim Mangala saying they were among those who contracted the virus.

"Several further tests for COVID-19 among Valencia coaching staff and players have returned positive," Valencia said in a statement on the club's official website.

Some have put Valencia's side's high infection rate against Italian side Atalanta in the Champions League earlier this month - they were then Alaves' last opponents before the league was suspended.

The flu-like virus has wiped out the international sports calendar, with the top five football leagues of Europe, England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France. Likewise the Champions League and Europa League have all been suspended.

The corona virus has infected nearly 180 thousand people and killed more than 7 thousand worldwide. So far, it has not been revealed who the Alaves players have tested positive for the corona virus.